José Feliciano continues to refine his folk-jazz aesthetic via Fantastic Feliciano, a scattershot set of pop standards that pushes the singer in a series of new creative directions, some considerably more successful than others.

Feliciano lends his signature stamp to familiar tunes like "Nature Boy," "For Sentimental Reasons," and "The Masquerade Is Over," shifting easily from stark, simple arrangements that spotlight his intricate guitar playing to fuller, R&B-inspired contexts that underline the soulfulness of his vocals.

Not all of it works, and the album fails to hang together as a whole, but the pieces of the puzzle are in place, enabling his signature sound to achieve critical mass over the course of subsequent LPs.